Graduation events planned

If it's June, it must be time for graduation.

The class of 2002 from South Whidbey High School, Bayview High School and the Shared Schooling Cooperative will graduate in ceremonies during the second week in June.

South Whidbey High School seniors will celebrate their academic success with a variety of activities from dessert with parents to a parade, then will finish their high school careers by marching to "Pomp and Circumstance."

Shared Schooling Co-op seniors will start the graduation season when they hold their commencement ceremony June 9 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland.

The end of this school year is also a time to recognize departing teachers. Several teachers will be retiring from the South Whidbey School District and will be honored at a tea June 10 at 4 p.m. at the South Whidbey High School Commons.

The annual senior parade, which will be a rolling caravan of pre-graduation excitement, will be June 12. Graduating seniors will drive through Langley and through the parking lots at the South Whidbey primary and intermediate schools with Langley Police Chief Bob Herzberg in the lead.

South Whidbey High School principal Mike Johnson said the parade gives younger schoolchildren a fun and inspiring event to look forward to when it is their turn to graduate.

"The parade begins in the Playground in the Park and will swing by the elementary and middle schools where the younger students will be out to give the seniors a wave," he said.

A Farewell Assembly on June 13 specifically for the younger students at the high school will bring the entire student body together to say farewell to the departing class of 2002. Seniors will receive year-end awards at the event and present a slide show recapping their high school careers.

Later that day, at 4:30 p.m., seniors at Bayview High School will graduate in a ceremony at Bayview Hall.

Class members will finally get their diplomas and toss their mortarboards into the air June 15 following 1 p.m. graduation ceremonies. Weather permitting, the event will be held outside. If not, it will be held in the school gymnasium.

Admission is by ticket, but at 12:45 p.m. those without tickets will be admitted, depending on seating.

Langley Middle school eighth-graders becoming high school freshmen next year will graduate June 19 at 8:30 a.m.

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